1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and particularly to an electrical card connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrical card connectors are mounted on printed circuit boards and electrically interconnect an electronic card received therein with the printed circuit board.
A conventional electrical card connector comprises a card receiving space defined by a bottom plate abutting against a printed circuit board on which the connector is mounted and a pair of arms. Electrical card connectors are required to meet more challenging requirements in accordance with the trend toward lighter, thinner, shorter, and smaller electronic devices in the electronic field. The thickness of conventional electrical card connectors with an electronic card received in the card receiving space and supported by the bottom plate is equal to or more than a sum of the thickness of the bottom plate and the thickness of the electronic card. The thickness of the conventional electrical card connector can not be further reduced because of the presence of this bottom plate.
Additionally, a conventional electrical card connector usually includes a card ejection element for ejecting the electronic card out of the card receiving space. The card ejection element comprises a sliding member and a guiding member guiding the movement of the sliding member. The guiding member is partially received in and stacked under the sliding member. The arrangement of the sliding and guiding members further increases the total thickness of the electrical card connector. Furthermore, the operation of the card ejection element is easily obstructed by the arrangement of its moveable components and therefore is not reliable.
Therefore, an improved electrical card connector is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
A first object of the present invention is to provide an electrical card connector having a smaller thickness; and
A second object of the present invention is to provide an electrical card connector having a more reliable card ejection element.
An electrical card connector in accordance with the present invention comprises an insulative housing, a plurality of electrical terminals, a card ejection element, a conductive shield, a switching element and a pair of soldering elements.
The insulative housing comprises an elongate base portion and first and second parallel arms extending outwardly from the base portion. The electrical terminals are retained in the base portion with two opposite ends thereof extending beyond the base portion. The base portion and the arms define a card receiving space therebetween for receiving an electronic card therein. The electrical card connector is mounted onto a printed circuit board which functions as a roof of the electrical card connector. The card ejection element is assembled to one of the first and second arms of the insulative housing. The card ejection element has a two-stroke mechanism which accepts an inserted electronic card on one stroke with a first inward pushing force and which ejects the electronic card out of the card receiving space with a second inward pushing force on a second stroke. The switching element provides an electrical switch function responsive to insertion and/or ejection of the electronic card. The soldering elements reliably mount the electrical card connector to the printed circuit board.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.